Top 10: Iconic Actors From The ’50s
Although old, there are still some people who enjoy the good old '50s movies
The 50s were very well known for a lot of things: post-war affluence and increased choice of leisure time activities, conformity, the Korean War, middle-class values, the rise of modern jazz, the rise of ‘fast food’ restaurants and drive-ins, a baby boom, the all-electric home as the ideal, white racist terrorism in the South, the advent of television and TV dinners, abstract art, the first credit card, the rise of drive-in theaters to a peak number in the late 50s with over 4,000 outdoor, and a youth reaction to middle-aged cinema. Older viewers were prone to stay at home and watch television. Think about this: almost 10.5 million US homes had a TV set in 1950!!! Well, to get you acquainted with the era, especially in matters of the film industry, here are 10 of the iconic movie stars of the 50s:
Mitchum is famous for his deep, sorrowful eyes that invested his iconic bad guys, equally at home in all genres. He was always unforgettable when playing the heavy … moreworldliness. Still, his performance was very subtle, but he remained coolly detached in every role. He begun the 50s with a jail sentence for possession of marijuana and he ended the era being one of the biggest starts at Hollywood and he remained the biggest star till the end of his life. If you have a thing for old movies, you have probably seen him in films like: “The Lusty Men,” “The Nigh of the Hunter,” and “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.”
She started acted as a child, at the age of 6, when she played Virginia in “Miracle on 34th Street” and she languished in ingénueland until winning the … morefemale lead opposite James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause.” It made her not only a star, but the quintessence of existential teenage girl love (and lust) sickness, a persona she carried into superstardom as the ’50s became the ’60s. She was also very famous, and maybe still is among those who love a good old movie, because of her beautiful doe-eyes. In matters of movies, beside “Rebel Without a Cause,” she also played in “The Searchers” and “Marjorie Morningstar.”
The truth is that when people talk about movie stars, they surely talk about Cary Grant, because if you watch him in any of his innumerable classic roles, you will see a master class in timing and presence. This is all old news to anyone with even a passing interest in movie history. However, take into account the fact that his massive appeal came from grace, wit, charisma, style and his good looks. With his spectacular martini-dry sophistication, he helped transform the ’50s male ideal, which paved the way for more sweeping changes in the decades to come. As we remember him, his most remarkable performances were in movies like “To Catch a Thief,” “An Affair to Remember,” “North by Northwest.”
Although this may sound a bit corny, her name says it all – Grace! Although she may not be an actress with a greater natural command of the old-world attributes that made people into movie stars, she has poise, beauty, style and elegance and she needs nothing more! Plus, she was the quintessential Hitchcock heroine – blond, fragile, forbiddingly lovely and perpetually vulnerable to peril – in the quintessential Hitchcock decade. Yet no matter how grisly the threat, Kelly retained her essential finesse. Among her essential performances, there are movies like “Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” “To Catch a Thief” and “High Society.”
Nowadays people say that great actors disappear in their roles. Well, in the case of James Stewart, his roles disappeared into him! Doesn’t matter what he was playing; he could perform the role of a voyeuristic photographer with a broken leg, or a big-band pioneer, or a determined bounty hunter … mor a cop obsessed with a dead woman, Stewart was always unmistakably Stewart: his chewy voice, his ambling gait, his quizzical face, his inextinguishable humanity. Although he was big, the ‘50s made him even bigger, transforming him into one of the greatest actors who ever lived. Among his most famous movies, the ones that must be mentioned are “Harvey,” “Vertigo,” and “Anatomy of a Murder.”
